Many beverages comprise multiple liquid components, such as water and a syrup or a concentrate. The water may or may not be carbonated, and the syrup may be, for example, a soft drink syrup, and the concentrate may be, for example, a fruit juice or tea concentrate. The beverage components are typically mixed as the beverage is dispensed at the serving facility. In order to have a beverage with the desired taste, it is very important that the beverage components be mixed in the correct ratio.
In a conventional system, the water and syrup or concentrate are provided through separate proportioning valves to a dispensing outlet. The valves must be initially carefully set to establish the desired ratio and then should be re-adjusted daily to maintain the correct ratio. The syrup or concentrate is pumped to its proportioning valve by a pump driven by carbon dioxide gas.
This conventional system has experienced numerous problems. For example, the valve-adjusting process is time-consuming, and the valve re-adjusting process may not be carried out frequently enough to maintain the desired ratio. Furthermore, even if the valves are correctly adjusted, pressure changes in either of the beverage components furnished to the valves results in the dispensing of a beverage having the incorrect ratio of components. Also, fibrous concentrates, such as juice concentrates containing pulp, tend to foul the concentrate proportioning valve. Finally, the pumping of the syrup or concentrate with carbon dioxide gas is wasteful in that the gas is exhausted to the atmosphere after it is used by the pump.